Eyelash thinner



Feb. 2, 1967 J, 5 O'CONNELL 3,304,606

EYELASH THINNER Filed April l, 1965 44 f/ 50 HB INVENTOR JOHN S. O'CONNE(- L MM L ATTO R N EYS United States Patent @free 3,304,606 Patented Fei). 21, 1967 3,304,606 EYlELASH THINNER .lohn S. OConnell, Suite 901, 113 W. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10036 rues Apr. 1, 196s, ser. N0. 444,59s 7 Claims. (Cl. Sti-193) This invention relates to an eyelash thinner and, as an embodiment thereof, to an eyelash thining instrument.

I have observed that there is in the world of womens fashion a need for a small hand operable instrument which will quickly and easily thin eyelashes, both human and artificial. By the term thin as applied to eyelashes, I mean that in a fringe of eyelash strands operated upon by my eyelash thinner, only a very small number of the strands are cut in a single stroke of the thinner and the strands which are cut are spaced more or less randomly throughout the fringe. Thereby, although the eyelash after being thinned will have the same general overall configuration, it will be less bushy i.e. less dense. In other words, the num-ber of full length strands extending from the base of the eyelash to the outer free margin of the eyelash will be reduced, since some strands will terminate short of said margin at different lengths determined by the thinning operation.

The aforesaid eyelash thinning instrument has become particularly desirable because the current womens fashion has no use for eyelashes which are too thick or bushy so that many women have need for an eyelash thinning device, both in their homes for private individual use and as an instrument for use by the professional beauty shop operator.

Further, it will be recognized that false eyelashes are in vogue today. When such eyelashes are sold at retail, they have a somewhat standard thick mass so that they can be cut and thinned to the individual purchasers taste. My thinning instrument is a valuable aid in reducing the denseness of such eyelashes to the extent desired. Even after trimming and thinning of such false eyelashes, when the same are initially worn, some additional cutting may have to be done to blend together the natural and artificial lashes. My eyelash thinning instrument is also valuable for this purpose.

It is the primary object of my invention to provide an eyelash thinner which will carry out the function of more or less randomly shortening a small number of the full length eyelash strands which comprise an eyelash fringe in an easy, quick and efficient manner.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an eyelash thinner of the character described in the form of a small hand operable portable instrument that is well suited for home use, is saleable at relatively small cost, is no larger than a pair of small finger nail scissors, has but few parts, is extremely simple and safe in operation, is obvious in manner of use and requires no special skill, and which instrument is adapted to become a regular accoutrement of a ladys dressing table.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an eyelash thinner of the character described in the form of an instrument that is particularly well suited for proessional use in beauty shops and that will permit a professional operator to thin a customers eyelashes simply and properly and with a minimum amount of experience.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an eyelash thinning instrument of the character described which operates effectively both on human eyelashes naturally growing on a womans eyelids and on artiliicial r false eyelashes either separate from or aflixed to a womans eyelids.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an eyelash thinning instrument of the character described wherein the instrument includes cutting blade and anvil members which sever more-or-less randomly located strands of the eyelash by squarely abutting one another in chopping block fashion so that upon each manipulation of the instrument, the strands to be severed are cut simultaneously without disturbing their location as is typical of conventional scissors type shearing actions.

It is a fur-ther object of my invention to provide an eyelash thinner in a form suited for use in the mass production of artificial eyelashes whereby during the course of manufacture of such eyelashes, the same are thinned to emulate human eyelashes.

In general, and in accordance with the teaching of my invention, .I provide eyelash thinners for home, professional and manufacturing use. `For home and professional use, said instrument includes a pair of elongated operative levers which are pivotally interconnected. One pair of common ends of the levers is formed into handles, one in each lever, shaped as conventional linger loops which make the same convenient for manual manipulation. The other ends of the levers comprise a cutting blade member and an anvil member which cojointly act to sever a very small number of the eyelash strands in a fringe of eyelash strands which is caught between the members upon each manipulation or stroke of the instrument.

In a home use embodiment of my invention, the cutting blade member may include only one elongated linear cutting blade while in a professional use embodimen-t, two or more, e.g. live, parallel spaced blades may be advantageously utilized.

The abutting faces of the cutting blade member and the anvil member both lie along radial planes emanating from the pivot axis of the two levers so that when the two members close upon and against one another, they meet squarely face-to-face and in effect chop the eyelash strands between them.

The anvil member has a surface which is sulcated transversely to the length of the cutting blade so that as the cutting member contacts said sulcated surface, only a relatively small number of strands pinched therebetween will be severed while the great majority of strands will remain intact. The members come into direct contact at severance points substantially regularly spaced along the length of the cutting blade member and the strands of a typical eyelash are askew so that the only strands which are cut are those fortuitously located at the aforesaid points. The strands which are cut are therefore somewhat randomly and spacedly located throughout the fringe of strands which comprises the eyelash. In this manner, the thinning operation is successfully eifectuated by one or more manipulations of the instrument.

These and various other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent to the reader in the following description.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplied in the devices hereinafter described and of which the scope of application wil-l be indicated in the appended claims.

In the -accompanying drawings in which are shown some of the various possible embodiments Iof my invention,

FIG. l is a side elevational view of my eyelash thinning instrument, here illustrated in an embodiment for professional use;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. l;

FIG, 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary plan view of the sulcated surface of the anvil jaw of the instrument and is taken substantially along the line 3 3 of FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a .fragmentary perspective View of the jaws of my eyelash thinner instrument in a home use embodiment thereof; and

FIG. 5 illustrates in perspective an industrial form of my eyelash thinner.

An illustration of the prior art is so designated.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIGS. l through 3 illustrate my eyelash thinner in the form of a hand operable comparatively light weight instrument especially adapted for use by professional beauty stylists in beauty salons. The instrument is deemed appropriate for professional use because it is somewhat larger and more rugged than instruments styled for home use and has numerous cutting blades, as will shortly be described, so that its operation is more decisive and requires some degree of professional skill. The components of the instrument 1i), as well as components of the other embodiments, are suitably formed from any conventional during strong metal or metal alloy capable of having a hard surface imparted thereto.

The instrument 10 includes a pair of elongated levers 12, 14 which are pivotally interconnected at an intermediate point between their ends by a double headed transverse shaft (pin) 16 which passes through registered apertures in an abutting flattened `bearing area 18 in each of the levers. The levers turn about an axis of rotation which passes through said pin. One set of common ends of the levers 12, 14 are formed into handles, respectively, 2%, 22. Said handles terminate in conventional finger loops, respectively, 24, 26 which make said handles easy to manipulate by the professional user.

The other set of ends of the levers includes a cutting blade member 28 and an anvil member 30, each of said members being firmly fixed to facing broad elongated jaws 32, 34 which comprise the other ends of the different levers, respectively, 12, 14.

The cutting blade member 28 includes several identical regularly spaced elongated rectangular coextensive cutting blades 36. Each of the blades is comparatively thin and flat, like a single-edge safety razor blade, and the bodies of the blades are parallel. Each of the blades 36 has a long edge 38 thereof secured as by a clamp 40 in one of several like parallel positions along the inner face 42 of the jaw 32, said blades 36 thereby being xed in the desired parallel positional interrelationship.

The other common and free ends of the blades 36 are provided with keen parallel Wedge shaped registered cutting edges 44, said edges terminating in and thus defining a planar surface which includes the axis of rotation of the levers. Five like cutting blades 36 are illustrated in the professional embodiment 10 of my invention, however, the number of blades may vary from one to many depending on the preference of the professional operator. The cutting edges 44 are desirably somewhat longer than the maximum width (sidetoside dimension) of an eyelash which is likely to be encountered in the beauty salon.

The anvil member 30 includes an elongated broad rectangular-in-plan anvil 46, the anvil being xed to the inner face 43 of the jaw 34 of the -lever 14. The anvil has an operative surface 50 suicient in area both to support the strands of an eyelash thereon and to insure that the lengths of the cutting edges 44 impinge wholly on said anvil. Said anvil surface 50 lies in a plane which also includes the axis of rotation of the levers 12, 14.

The surface 50 lof the anvil is sulcated transversely to the lengths of the cutting edges 44 and to this end has formed thereon as Iby machining or hobbing ranks and files of orthogonally intersecting V-shaped ridges. Said ridges form a regular phalanx of square-bottomed abutting tiny shaped teeth (pyramids) 52 (see FIG. 3) which make up the entire surface 50 of the anvil. Said surface 50 may be identical to the surface of a metal or wood file and, indeed, the surface of such a le has functioned satisfactorily in practicing my invention.

The furrows, i.e., ridges formed by the rows and columns of teeth 52 run 45 to the lengths of the cutting edges 44. The surfaces of the teeth and cutting edges are quite hard, i.e., Rockwell 60 C, or harder, so that they will maintain their configurations over extended periods of use.

The eyelash thinning instrument 10 is operated by placing a fringe of eyelash strands on or immediately adjacent to the sulcated surface S0 of the anvil member 30. If the eyelash is artificial and not affixed to the eyelid of a wearer, the same can be held in place by the spine thereof on said surface, or if it is desired to thin false eyelashes fastened to the wearers eyelids or natural eyelashes, the instrument is accordingly located.

The strands S (see FIG, 3) are oriented on the sulcate-:l surface 50 generally perpendicularly to the cutting edges 44, it being appreciated that both natural eyelashes and fake eyelashes which have been handled though all running somewhat parallel between a spine and a free margin of the eyelash are yet slightly awry from one another.

The cutting blade member 28 and the anvil member 30 are rotated about their common axis of rotation and to-A ward one another (in directions, respectively, A and B in FIG. 2) simply by squeezing the handles 20, 22 of the levers 12, 14 together. Since the abutting faces of the cutting blade number 28 and the anvil member' 30 rotate on radial planes about the same axis, said faces move squarely against one another. That is to say, at spaced points along their lengths, the cutting edges 44 simulta neously meet the sulcated anvil surface 50, when the jaws 32, 34 are brought together. A type of severing action is' thereby attained which may be termed a squeezing or pinching or chopping severance, not unlike the severing action of a meat cleaver meeting a chopping block. This is in contrast to a scissors type shearing action where-y in the point of severance moves radially outwardly along the cutting edges of the blade as the scissors are closed.

The locations and approximate areas of the contact zones C of two typical cutting edges 44 with the sul-` cated surface are shown in dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 3. As can be readily envisioned from the enlargement of FIG. 3, when a fringe of eyelash strands is caught between the cutting blade member and the anvil member, only the strands S which are fortuitously interposed at the point abutment (indicated by small circles D in FIG. 3) of a portion of a cutting edge 44 and an edge of a tooth 52 on the sulcated surface 50 of the anvil 46 will be severed. A point of severance may have its longest dimension less than the width of a strand of the eyelash. The large remainder of the strands remains intact in the furrows between the teeth 52. Since the cutting edges 44 are linear, and since the surface S0 is transversely sulcated, said point abutment and thus point severance takes place at more or less randomly spaced points D along the width of the eyelash. The points lie along parallel contact zones C, which zones are spaced at different regular intervals from the free margin of the eyelash. The number of, i.e. the spacing between said severing points can be altered by appropriately changing the configuration of the sulcated surface 50. It is evident that because of the paucity of severing points D which act to cut strands, only a very small percentage of the strands S in an eyelash will be cut on one squeeze of the instrument 10, said strands being spacedly located more or less randomly throughout the fringe of strands, and some of said strands being cut closer to and some being cut further from the free margin of the eyelash. Although, as seen in FIG. 3, the severance points are in registry along the length (front to back dimension) of the strands, since said strands are always askew, different strands are parted at different points along their respective lengths.

The chopping block action of the cutting blade member 28 and the anvil member 30 severs such strands as will be cut in one squeeze of the instrument 10 simultaneously. Those strands which are not cut are held in position during the severing action by the blades forcing such strands down in the furrows between the teeth 52 of the sulcated surface 50.

It is worthwhile at this point to briey indicate the difference between my eyelash thinner and the prior art of which Veit, Hair Cutting and Thinning Shears, Patent No. 1,962,264 and Pileggi, Hair Thinning Scissors, Patent No. 2,606,365 are typical. A fragment of FIG. l of the Veit patent labelled prior art is included with the drawings of the instant application. Said structure includes a pair of scissor blades which have their mating cutting edges provided with alternate recesses R and tooth projections P, some of which V have a notched leading edge. Scissors having their blades so configured are suitable for thinning hair wherein alternate groups of strands are positively and progressively severed on each manipulation of such scissors. To this end, each notched tooth V gathers and holds against slipping a group of strands for severance during the shearing action stroke of the blades.

In contrast, my eyelash thinner severs on each manipulation of the instrument embodying the same only a very small total number of eyelash strands, said strands being distributed singularly (and occasionally in pairs) spacedly and more or less randomly throughout the fringe of strands. This is due to the point chopping severance effected between my cutting blade member and anvil member which will only part a strand if a portion of the length of the strand is by happenstance located at said severance point.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment 54 of my eyelash thinner. Said embodiment is smaller and less rugged than the professional embodiment l and is best adapted for home use. It also includes two levers 56, 53 intermediately pivoted as at 59, the operative ends of which levers constitute, respectively, a cutting blade member 60 and an anvil member 62. The cutting blade member comprises a single flat elongated cutting blade 63 integral with one of the levers 58, which blade has a keen elongated linear hard cutting edge 64 facing the anvil member 62 and running perpendiculary to the pivot 59.

The anvil member 62 comprises an elongated anvil 65 integral with the lever 56, the anvil being of the same radial length as the cutting edge 64. The hard surface 66 of the anvil 65 lies in a plane which includes the common axis of rotation of the levers 56, 58.

Said anvil surface 66 is sulcated transversely of the length of the cutting edge 64 by numerous parallel regularly spaced touching furrows 68 formed therein, said furrows defining therebetween numerous parallel regularly spaced inverted-V ridges 70. The furrows 68 and ridges 70 run mutually parallel to the axis of rotation of the levers and are so mutually related that the crests of all the ridges will be simultaneously contacted by points along the cutting edge 64 when the implement 54 is closed.

The strands of a fringe of eyelash strands are located between the cutting blade 60 and anvil members 62 with strands generally having their lengths oriented parallel to said fui-rows and ridges in the sulcated surface 66.

When the cutting blade 63 closes squarely against the anvil 65 during a manipulation of the home use embodiment S4, the cutting edge 64 contacts a series of severance points at the tips of the ridges 70, which points lie along a line emanating from the axis of rotation of the levers. When a fringe of eyelash strands is placed between the members 60, `62, the great majority of strands will remain whole by being located in the furrows 63 and as to those strands which lie atop the ridges, only the small number of these which have a portion of their lengths located at one of the severance points will be cut. Hen-ce, each manipulation of my eyelash thinner instrument 54 will cut only a few strands of a 'fringe of strands and the cut strands are located spacedly and moreor-less randomly throughout the fringe.

FIG. illustrates an industrial form 72 for my eyelash thinner which is intended for use in the mass production of artificial eyelashes. Said embodiment 72 is adapted to have fed to it a continuous web 74 of eyelash strands 76 which are held in substantially parallel relation iby a continuous flexible yet self-form-maintaining spine 78 which runs along a line of common ends of the strands. Asupply roll 75 formed of convolutions of the web 74 unwinds about a shaft `80 and the web runs from the supply roll between two opposed guide plates 82 in the direction E as shown in FIG. 5.

The web 74 of eyelash strands 76 passes between two rollers in circumferential engagement, these including a cutting blade roller 84 and an anvil roller 36. The rollers 84, 36 are turned lby a suitable power means in the directions, respectively, F, lG about parallel spaced shafts, respectively, 88 90.

The cutting blade roller 84 has formed on its periphery two like continuous circular cutting blades 92, said blades being in spaced parallel planes transverse to the shaft 88 and being mutually coaxial with the roller `84. Each of said blades has a similar keen hard cutting edge 94.

The anvil roller -86 has a sulcated periphery 96 for-med by numerous regularly spaced adjacent parallel furrows 98 which are coextensive and equally radially distant Ifrom the shaft 90 and are transverse to the cutting edges 94. Said furrows define therebetween numerous regularly spaced coextensive inverted-V ridges lili). The rolling abutment of the anvil roller 66 with the -cutting blade roller 84 results in two lines of severance points where the spaced cutting edges 94 contact the peaks of the ridges 10ft.

The web of strands is fed in the direction E tangentially between the rollers `84, 86 with the strands being more or less parallel to the rollers axes of rotation. In a manner similar to that previously described, said severance points intersect strands spacedly and more or less randomly located along the length of the web, resulting in the thinning of the web of strands so that when said web is cut into lengths, the same. simulate human eyelashes.

It thus will be seen that l have provided devices which achieve the several objects of my invention and which are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might 'be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

f il. A device for thinning a fringe of generally parallel yet somewhat awry eyelash strands, said device including a cutting blade member and an anvil member, and means for moving the members into chopping engagement against one another, said cutting blade member including a cutting edge and said anvil member including a surface sulcated transversely of said cutting edge, said cuttin-g edge when in said chopping engagement pressing against said sulcated surface at a series of spaced severance points, said `device severing such strands of the fringe as fortuitously intersect said points whereby severed strands are located spacedly and randomly throughout the fringe.

2. An eyelash thinning device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the means for moving the members into chopping engagement includes a pair of pivotally interconnected levers, the Icutting iblade member tbeing fixed to one end of one lever and the anvil member being fixed to the associated end of the other lever.

3. An eyelash thinning device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sulcated surface comprises several alternate furrows and ridges, said furrows and ridges running transversely of the cutting edge.

4. An eyelash thinning device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sulcated surface comprises a tile surface.

S. An eyelash thinning device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sulcated surface comprises several adjacent furrows running perpendicularly to the cutting edge.

6. An eyelash thinning device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the cutting blade member includes several perallel cutting blades each with a cutting edge.

7. An eyelash thinning device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the cutting member includes a single linear cutting edge and the sulcated surface comprises several alternate furrows and ridges running .perpendiculiarly to blade meets the sulcated surface at a series of spaced linearly aligned severance points running along the tips of the ridges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,606,365 8/1952 Pileggi 30-195 WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

lthe cutting edge so that the cutting edge of the cutting 10 J. PETERS, Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR THINNING A FRINGE OF GENERALLY PARALLEL YET SOMEWHAT AWRY EYELASH STRANDS, SAID DEVICE INCLUDING A CUTTING BLADE MEMBER AND AN ANVIL MEMBER, AND MEANS FOR MOVING THE MEMBERS INTO CHOPPING ENGAGEMENT AGAINST ONE ANOTHER, SAID CUTTING BLADE MEMBER INCLUDING A CUTTING EDGE AND SAID ANVIL MEMBER INCLUDING A SURFACE SULCATED TRANSVERSELY OF SAID CUTTING EDGE, SAID CUTTING EDGE WHEN IN SAID CHOPPING ENGAGEMENT PRESSING AGAINST SAID SULCATED SURFACE AT A SERIES OF SPACED SEVERANCE POINTS, SAID DEVICE SEVERING SUCH STRANDS OF THE FRINGE AS FORTUITOUSLY INTERSECT SAID POINTS WHEREBY SEVERED STRANDS ARE LOCATED SPACEDLY AND RANDOMLY THROUGHOUT THE FRINGE. 